


Birthday + Family

by Danni_Lea



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 20:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danni_Lea/pseuds/Danni_Lea
Summary: Jack wasn't expecting much for his birthday beyond the usual text messages and dinner at Mac's, but his kids never stop surprising him.





	Birthday + Family

**Author's Note:**

> Completely unbetaed! Please forgive any mistakes. This fic was actually written as a birthday present for my wonderful beta and amazing sister, Mea.

Jack knows that Mac and Riley are full grown adults that are fully capable of taking care of themselves, but Jack still worries. It doesn’t matter that they’re both nearly thirty now – a fact that makes Jack feel old in ways Mac’s most hair raising stunts don’t -he always sees the angry and weary kids he first met when he looks at them (Riley, twelve and angry and protective, not wanting anyone to ever hurt her mother again, and Mac, nineteen and angry and so afraid of letting anyone in). Jack will always be worried about his kids.

Especially when they’re scheming.

Its one thing when they’re scheming on missions. It something else when they’re home in sunny LA and have roped Matty into being their distraction. The director had summoned Jack and promptly informed him that he was to stay there until Matty declared otherwise. Jack, remembering the way Mac and Riley had had their heads ducked together all day, knew immediately that Matty had been recruited to act as the distraction in whatever scheme his kids had cooked up. 

“You know,” Jack said, “I don’t think this is how distractions work.”

Matty snorted and didn’t look up from the tablet she was working on. The two of them were in the War Room, Matty co-ordinating with an ops team and Jack was stretched out on the couch, feet propped on the table, offering occasional tactical advice but was otherwise occupied with trying to get Matty to reveal whatever Riley and Mac were up to.

“My job is to keep you out of Blondie and Riley’s way while they do their thing. Nobody said I couldn’t make you be productive while I did that,” Matty said, shooting him a look out of the corner of her eye. Jack grinned back and Matty tolled her eyes.

“C’mon,” Jack cajoled, “Can’t you give me even a little hint as to what they’re up to? The two of them scheming like that makes me twtichy, ‘cause they’re either planning some kind of prank or world domination.”

“Quit being dramatic, Dalton. MacGyver and Riley are big kids and can take care of themselves, so quit worrying.”

Jack snorted. “You’ve met my kids right? I leave them alone for five minutes and someone gets kidnapped! Or builds a bomb or hacks the NSA!”

“Seriously Jack?” Matty asks, voice full of exasperation (with the faintest trace of fondness). Her tone implying that she might be close to losing a bit of her temper with him. Jack knew she wasn’t – if she was really angry at him the tone wouldn’t be exasperated, it’d be sub-zero cold and Jack’d already be on his way to the worst possible assignment she could dig up for him.

Jack knows his family.

“Seriously, Matty. They’re both trouble magnets. Especially Mac.” Jack continued to grumble under his breath about the trouble his boy tended to find himself in, as Matty wrapped things up with the team she was coordinating with. Jack was well aware that she wasn’t really listening to him, and was humoring him by letting him talk. Once upon a time they were partners and Matty knew that talking was just how Jack kept calm. Major fallout and breach of trust all those years ago or not, they still knew each other in ways no one else would. Its what made working together again possible – what allowed Matty to be folded into their tight-nit family. Jack would be lying if he said he wasn’t glad to have her back in his life.

Matty’s phone gave a quick ping, alerting both of them to an incoming text. Matty checked her phone before turning and pointing at Jack.

“Get out of here and over to Blondie’s house. He and Riley are ready for you.”

Jack blinked, “Ready for me? Wha -”

“Shut up and get out of my hair Dalton!”

Jack skedaddled.

\---

Jack pulled into Mac’s drive, eyes darting around, looking for any sign of something wrong. He really wasn’t lying to Matty earlier when he said Mac and Riley scheming together made him twitchy. He was genuinely lucky to have the greatest kids – both incredibly smart, talented, kind, and determined to do good in the world – but he was well aware of the kind of trouble they could find themselves in. Have found themselves in before.

He loves them dearly, but Mac and Riley are definitely the reason he has grey hairs.

Not seeing anything out of place, Jack hopped out of the car and jogged up to the door. He opened it with his usual disregard for social niceties like knocking at Mac’s house, and ducked inside the entryway. He’s mildly bemused by the birthday party hat perched on the polar bear’s head and the blue and white balloons carefully wrapped in his claws.

“Yo, Mac!’ Jack shouted as he headed for the kitchen after kicking the door closed. “What’s goin’ on, man?”

“We’re on the deck!” Mac shouted back, ignoring Jack’s question completely. A little miffed, Jack huffed and was about to launch into a tirade about how rude millennials are and why Mac should respect his elders that gets stopped before he even has the chance to get going. Jack, having just walked into the living room, stopped short when he saw the deck through the windows.

Mac had pulled out the table they used for large dinner gatherings out on the deck, and he and Riley had decked it out with a Cowboys table cloth and assorted disposable plates – the kind you find for cheap at a party store (though where the two of them would have found Dallas Cowboys party gear in Los Angeles was a little lost on Jack). They’d even managed to get Dallas gift bags. 

Jack, after a moment of gaping, switched his gaze to his kids. They were both looking a little nervous, but also determined. Jack wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he got here – fire and chaos, probably – but what looked like some kind of surprise birthday party definitely wasn’t it.

Riley crossed her arms and gave Jack a challenging look. “Are you coming out here or not, old man?”

Jack’s brain and feet finally reconnected and he made his way outside to the deck, trying to figure out what has his kids feeling so unsure. This could all be a giant joke and he’d still love it because a) Cowboys, and b) his kids put this together. How could he not love it?

And that’s when Jack got a better look at the table.

There was cake in the middle of the table, and it was the only thing that wasn’t decked out in blue and white. Instead Mac and Riley had gotten one of those fancy photo cakes – the ones with an actual picture made out of icing. The photo was one of Jack’s favorites - it featured him, Mac and Riley, arms thrown over each others shoulders, laughing at some joke Bozer had told before snapping the picture.

Jack looked up from the table to look at Mac and Riley.

“Surprise?” Mac said.

“Yeah,” Jack said. “It definitely is.” Jacks could feel the grin stretching across his face as he quickly closed the distance between him and his kids. Without reserve or hesitation, he threw his arms around both of them. Mac laughed and Riley huffed.

“You haven’t even opened your presents yet, Jack.” Mac said. Jack pulled back, keeping a hand on Mac and Riley’s shoulders.

“Don’t know if I need to now. You and Riley doing this is about the best birthday gift a guy can ask for.”

Riley reached around him and snagged one of the gift bags sitting on the table. She held it up in front of his face and raised an eyebrow (a move that made her look even more like her mother- especially when she was somewhere between amused and exasperated with whatever Jack was doing).

“At least this one, Jack,” she said. “We picked it out together.”

Jack’s grin softened into a smile – the one he always seemed to have around his kids – as he took the bag from Riley. Mac’s fingers twitched as he watched. Jack had no doubt that if he had a paperclip it’d be twirling and twisting through his fingers. Jack had no idea why his kids were so nervous. Unless its another Cowboys snuggy, in which case Mac really needs to learn to up his gift giving game.

Jack lifted opened the bag and lifted the tissue paper (also decked out in blue and white, Jack was gonna have to talk with his kids because yes he loved the Cowboys but this was a bit much even for him), which revealed a rolled up t-shirt inside the bag. Based the apparent theme of the party, Jack had a feeling he knew what the dark blue shirt was. More than a little bemused he reached in and grabbed it, setting the bag down by his feet as he let the shirt unroll -

Bright white letters, bold across the shirt.

 _World’s Okayest Dad_.

Jack’s eyes start to burn and he can feel his lips trying to tremble. His smile had faltered in his surprise and Jack pushed through it to smile – first at the shirt in his hands and then at his kids. Now he gets what the nervousness was about. Jack had never doubted that Mac and Riley knew how much he loved them. He was, to start, pretty vocal about it and never shy with physical affection – he doled out hugs and ruffled hair like someone was about to pass a law saying he couldn’t (he also knew that Elwood Davis and James MacGyver weren’t big on _kind_ physical contact with their kids and while Riley had had Diane to balance it out, Mac had his grandpa, who also wasn’t much of a hugger so Jack felt he had to make sure they both got all the hugs and other things they missed out on as kids). But there were things they never said aloud, which Jack understood and respected. Mac and Riley would talk to him when they needed and when they were good and ready.

So this shirt, his kids actually calling him dad. Is kind of. A big deal.

If it was physically possible for people to burst from happiness, Jack would have right then and there.

“This,” Jack began, “Is the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

Jack wrapped Mac and Riley back into a hug, smile never fading.

“Happy birthday, Jack.” Mac said, voice slightly muffled by Jack’s shoulder.

“Happy birthday, Jack.” Riley said, her chin digging into his back a bit from where she’d hooked her chin over his shoulder.

“I love you both, more than anything,” Jack told them, holding tighter.

This was definitely going down in his books as the greatest day ever.

“I am never going to take this shirt off!”

“ _Don’t make this weird!_ ”

“Ugh, _Jack!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to Mea! The greatest sister I never knew I needed.


End file.
